Event Organized by the Peninsula / South Bay Peace Council
This march and rally was organized by the Peninsula/South Bay Peace Coordinating Council,
a collaboration of over 35 peace organizations based in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 9, 2005

CALENDAR LISTING (List under: Special Events) Kill Date: 3/20/05

Contacts: Peninsula: PPJC - Paul George (650) 326-8837

San José: South Bay Mobilization - (408) 998-8504

PEACE MARCH & RALLY IN SAN JOSÉ

On the Second Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq

Sunday, March 20

1:30 p.m.: Marchers Gather at San José Diridon Train Station, 65 Cahill Street, San José

3:00 p.m.: Rally at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, on Market Street between San Fernando and E. San Carlos, San José

On Sunday, March 20, there will be a regional march and rally in San José to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The march will begin at 1:30 p.m. at San José Diridon Train Station and end at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, where the rally will begin at 3:00 p.m. The march will stop at the San José Veterans Memorial for a brief ceremony.

The march and rally is being organized by the Peninsula/South Bay Peace Council, a collaboration of over 35 peace and justice organizations based in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties who have joined forces to oppose the ongoing deadly occupation of Iraq.

The war and occupation have devastated Iraq and are bankrupting our country. Close to 1500 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed. On the weekend of March 19-20, peace activists will hold demonstrations in cities all over the country to demand that the Bush administration bring the U.S. troops home, cease its pursuit of a new American empire, and spend our tax dollars on the jobs, education, health care, and housing that are so desperately needed in this country.

There will also be an alternative gathering for marchers at the First Unitarian Church of San José, 160 N. 3rd St., where an Interfaith Service for Peace will begin at 1:30 p.m. Service-goers will then join the main march at the Veterans Memorial.

More information is available at www.peaceandjustice.org/march20

The initial groups endorsing the rally are (in alphabetical order):
Americans for a Palestinian State, American Muslim Voice, Arab American
Democratic Caucus, Barrio Defense Committee, Californians For Justice,
Campus Greens of San José State University, Community Homeless Alliance
Ministry, Council on American Islamic Relations, Democratic World
Federalists, First Unitarian Church of San José, Green Party of Santa Clara
County, Iranian Society for Human Rights (Northern California), Jewish Voice
for Peace, Justice for Palestinians, Labor Party San José Local Organizing
Committee, Los Altos Voices for Peace, Mountain View Voices for Peace,
Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, Northern California War Tax
Resisters, Peace Umbrella of Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto,
Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, San José Peace Center, SEIU Local 715
Civil and Human Rights Committee, Silicon Valley Debug, Social Education and
Action Committee of the Santa Clara County Council of Churches, South Bay
AFL-CIO Labor Council, South Bay Labor for Peace and Justice, South Bay
Mobilization, Students for Justice, United for Peace and Justice (San José),
Annie and the Vets/Veterans for Peace Cultural Project, Veterans for Peace:
Chapters 69 and 101, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (San
José and Peninsula Branches), World Centric

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Note: Click here for an updated, complete list of endorsing organizations for this event.

To read a post-event report, click here...